dancing, running; running, dancing!

So much has happened over the last few weeks! I can barely catch my breath! The "new job" is now the "old job." The only words I have are, "I hated it." Moving on! I am currently seeking employment. I am doing some temp work with the agency that got me my previous Geomap job, and taking things one day at a time! This family needs prayers for Momma Pea to get a job! I have one in particular that I am waiting on and I really hope it is what God has planned for me! It would be perfect {in my mind anyway} and would be a fantastic long-term opportunity. So, keep us in your happy thoughts!

Anne Pea is a running fool! Her cross country meets are in full swing! She's been placing in the top 25-40% of runners (there are always so many girls out there)! Last week she placed 83rd, but that was out of about 250 runners! We're really proud of her tenacity! I have a feeling this will be her last year in cross country though. Sad face from Mom! I hoped she would love it and keep going throughout high school! It's crazy that we love getting up early on Saturday morning to watch her come in 83rd, but it is such a blast!

Abby Pea is a dancing fool! Football games are in full swing, and that means halftime shows and pep rallies! This coming Saturday is the homecoming parade and this Momma Pea is so excited about it! It will be in our historic downtown and will be so much fun! There will be pics! :) She just got her letter jacket today {a big deal, by the way} and she looks really cute in it! I can't wait to start getting patches put on it!

Anne Pea cheering for her teammates! 

At the starting line.

My runner pea! :)

Here she comes!

Anne Pea and her sweet friend, Cameron! (He's cute and sweet! Yikes!)

Abby and her friend, Megan, at a football game! Two sweet peas!

Abby cheering/dancing at the pep rally!

greener pastures?

What a crazy week and a half! I don't even know where to begin! I started my new job last Monday. That seems like it was two months ago! I am really unsure if it will work out. I usually have a great intuition about things and a great determination to "make it work," as Tim Gunn would say. I think my hunch on this one may have been totally wrong! I don't even know what to do about it. All I can do is keep looking and pray that God gives me direction on this. I have already learned a great lesson that maybe I'm not so smart after all and I have a long way to go before I know it all! There I said it! {That hurts!}

I have always been an advocate of "the grass isn't always greener on the other side" mentality. But, sometimes you just have to take a risk. You never know until you jump in with both feet. Well, I know that my feet need to keep looking and I need prayers for another opportunity to come my way. And, in case you're in the area, I am taking any and all photography appointments! I'd love to make that my full time job! So, it starts here!

Love to you all! I pray many blessings for you!

sweet g.g. pea update

Today is G.G.'s 81st birthday! It's so hard to believe it's been a year since her amazing surprise birthday party. If you haven't seen those pics, go to my "Pea Family Photos" page and scroll down. It was such an amazing, wonderful, happy weekend full of precious memories!

Our precious G.G. is still hanging in there, being a trooper! I spoke to her on the phone today. She is speaking well and loves to hear from friends and family via the phone. She is hooked on watching our Texas Rangers! She never enjoyed baseball that much until this summer. She and Mammy (Jon's mom) are watching every game possible. We have to find her a jersey, probably needs to be a button-up, that she can wear during the games. Help me be on the lookout for one! :)

I received a precious picture of her, in her wheelchair (she's been bed ridden for months now). It was so awesome to see her sweet smile. She was rolled into the kitchen (her favorite place in the house). She loves to look out her kitchen's bay window onto the golf course and watch the players. I will always picture her there, at her table watching the golfers with her telly running sports programs!

Brian (Jon's uncle) surprised her with a short visit from Austin this weekend. She got flowers and a laptop for her birthday from the sweet Freidell family (Brian, Kim and cousins, Chase and Brandon). She can use it while she's laying in bed. Maybe it will give her a change of scenery. She said she's getting a little tired of looking at her fireplace!

She has a lot of spirit and hope. She talks about her sweet kids, grands, and great-grands and is so thankful and blessed to have been such a huge part of their lives. She said she hopes she's walking next year on her birthday. I told her I would be happy just to have her for her next birthday! :)

Her hospice aide (I don't know her actual job title), Katherine, is becoming very close to the family. She's been wonderful and we hope to have her around for a long time. G.G. is very comfortable with her. I know it is a huge blessing to have a caregiver that every one loves.

She continues to need prayers. She has good days and bad days, of course. We're just so happy to have her in our lives! Thank you for all of the love and prayers! It is appreciated more than words can say!

summer dayz

The summer is already going by so fast, I can't believe it. I haven't spent near as much time at the pool, the one about 50 feet from my door, as I wanted to. The Pea family has so much going on right now, it seems like we never have a break!

Abby Pea is in driver's ed this month. Watch out, McKinney! I managed to get *most* of the blue and red out of her hair (Don't let your daughter use Kool-Aid for hair color; you will thank me later. Luckily, I think I have just the recipe for getting it out in case it's too late for you!). She and I have this weekend together, just the two of us. We went out for sushi together last night and then did a little shopping, only for necessities of course. I have a project list she gets to help me whittle down! :)  She is looking for her first job and *trying* to become the responsible teenager we all know she can be! Her summer is about to get busier with dance classes and camp coming up!

Anne Pea is on her way to Amarillo then HC with Daddy Pea this weekend. He is headed for a long overdue visit with his precious G.G. (I'll update in a minute.) She has been either at a friend's house or having a friend to visit all summer long! She's been babysitting and keeping herself busy too. She wanted to spend the entire summer lazing by the pool. Sh-yah! Right! Haha! I won't get to see her until Thursday and I am already missing that sweet pea!

Anne Pea is quite the comedienne, I think I have mentioned that before. The other night she and her pea pal, Hannah, pulled a prank on Abby Pea. They made fake dog poop with a wet toilet paper roll. They put it on Abby's bed. When she went to bed, she found it, and while she was trying to figure out what to do about it, Hannah picked it up with her bare hands and threw it at Abby! Haha!! This all happened at about 2:45 in the morning, waking the big peas up! It wasn't funny to us until after about 7:00 am!

King Pea is doing great! His job is going extremely well. He mentioned to me the other day what he told one of his coworkers:  "Isn't it great to actually look forward to coming to work every day?" I am really happy for him and think that he will be with Saltgrass for a long, long time. It is so "him" except for the country decor! :) Seeing that is the only issue he has with the restaurant, I think he'll be just fine!

So, G.G. update:  Not so great. She is home; but on hospice care. I think she was really glad to go home from the nursing home. She hasn't progressed in some time. We are all trying to make time to see her and love on her as much as possible. Abby Pea and I laughed about something cute she did at her 80th birthday party last year. Then I just broke down into tears. It's so hard to see such a vibrant *young* woman struggling after such a long, hard road. She is my grandmother, too, and I love her as such. King Pea and I have been through this too many times and it never gets easier. I hope he can bring her much joy this weekend during his visit! It will only be a fraction of the joy she has brought to our lives.

Back to something more uplifting! Us girlie peas are headed to Colorado with my parents next weekend and I can't wait! I need a vacay! I will not have my computer, but I will have my camera! I will post to my blog as soon as I can. We're going camping, hiking, whitewater rafting (I've wanted to do that my whole life! Eeeek!), and relaxing! It is so up my alley! I miss the mountains like crazy. I am definitely a mountain girl, and I hope I don't have to wait until I retire to move there and enjoy them full time! (Any one know of any one hiring in Taos? For two, please.) Maybe when I finally get to put King through culinary school, we can head that way.

Keep our family in your prayers, especially for G.G., Pat, and Brian. Pat needs extra blessings for sure!

runner pea

I am officially mad at myself for my six month hiatus from running that ended in January. I have finally gone back up to three miles, but admittedly, I still walk part of my course. (Did I mention half a mile is uphill?)


Yesterday as I ran/walked, I was feeling a bit beat down because I don't feel as strong as I used to. That's how I've been feeling in life lately, too.


Life is sucking right now for various and somewhat small reasons. I know I'm blessed. I am incredibly thankful for my healthy family, my long-lasting marriage, our full tummies and the roof over our heads. I would guess we are more fortunate than about 80% of the world's population. Maybe more.


But these little things are getting to me because it seems that no matter how hard Jon and I work, no matter how hard we try, we can't seem to get *life* right. We've screwed up. Even when we were intending to make things better for us all.


Back to my run yesterday...I was praying for these *things* and feeling pretty yucky emotionally. I apologized for everything I've put my girlies through. All of our ups and downs; they deserve so much more than Jon an I have ever been able to provide. And it dawned on me at some point that, yes, running is somewhat about winning and losing. But, more importantly, the only way you can fail at it is if you quit.


I think we have to apply this to life. It's probably why God brought it to my attention yesterday. Yes, I may walk or fall or cramp or puke while I run. But, I am determined not to stop. Because when I quit, I have truly failed. I'm not giving up on trying to make our lives better either.


P.S. I wrote this a few days ago and had it sitting unpublished. I was trying to decide how to end it; how to explain what I've been feeling the last couple of months or so. There are so many things up in the air right now, but we are so close to being grounded. I have many things to do and this month is bringing many changes. Keep our G.G. Pea in your prayers still. She has a long road of healing ahead. Also, pray for my girlie peas! They have busy, busy lives and sometimes they just need to...be.


And...the Pea-enprase Family is running the Big D 5K in April! (Hence, the running!) These are our pics from the last couple years. Our little team doubles every year, so I don't know what the heck we're going to do next year! 

Anne Pea and Queen Pea before the 2011 race. I was so proud of my little pea! Of course, she smoked her momma (I found out two days after this that I had strep throat; it did explain the 40+ minute time!). She would have beat me anyway!

We decided to wear cute socks! I wonder if King Pea will wear them this year?

This was my first ever 5K, the 2010 Big D! I ran by myself, but my Tina Pea was there to take my pic and meet me at the finish line! (And drive me there. I would totally get lost in downtown Dallas! Especially then since we didn't live in the area! Thanks, T!)

g.g. update

We spent a long weekend in Amarillo to see our family and especially Helen, our sweet G.G. As of Sunday when we left, she was back in ICU. She was having a hard time breathing (that's what six or more broken ribs will do), and couldn't breathe deeply enough to expel enough CO2. So, doctors performed a bronchoscopy and removed some of the fluid developing in her lungs.

She is now on a ventilator and is heavily sedated. That's not a terrible thing because she needed to be able to breathe deeper, but the broken ribs were making it too painful for her. Now she has the machine to do what she couldn't. She just cannot get pneumonia. We don't think she could survive it. 

Her heart was seemingly good. However, she has been experiencing periods of atrial fibrillation (a-fib). They thought they had it under control with medication, but it returned a couple of times on Sunday. We're on a "wait and see" for that. 

One more problem:  She has a blockage in her upper GI. That has become a secondary issue considering her respiratory problems. We were told Saturday that it is slowly softening and should pass soon. 

Our G.G. Pea is just covered in wires and tubes! They're just everywhere! Jon and I prayed over her before we left and are continuing to pray for her each day. King Pea is pretty upset. He is super close to his Grandma. They have quite the special bond! Keep our G.G. in your prayers! I will update you again soon!

Beautiful G.G. at her rocking 80th birthday last July!

G.G. with Uncle Brian and Aunt Kim! I love our pea family!